I have often said to others, and also had it said to me, that "there is no time like the present". However, my interpretation of this statement has always been "go on, you might as well do it now", but generally there is no sense of urgency in it. It's just a gentle prod.
However, with recent circumstances and also having just read Eckhart Tolle's fabulous "A New Earth" again, the statement now has a different feel for me. When you think about time, the past and the future are both just concepts. It is only the present that has any substance.
Our visions of the future are sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings that we imagine that we either want to have, or that we fear and are therefore dreading. They are not the truth of what's going to happen.
Similarly, our memories of the past are a recollection of sensual experiences, but they are also not the truth. How do I know this? Because if I were to ask several people who attended the same event to describe what happened, I guarantee I would get several different descriptions.
We all have different maps of the world, which we use to provide meaning to what happens. And maps may do a good job of describing a territory, but they are not the territory.
Which brings me back to my belief that the present moment is the only moment when we are actually in the process of experiencing our lives. And it's here that we can choose how much, or lhow ittle, we want to include of our experience.
How many of us put off: what we want to do; living the life we want to live? We're waiting for that time when we retire, when we have enough money to pay off the mortgage, buy that yacht, buy that 2nd house, so that we can do what we really want to do.
How many people actually reach that goal or end point? How many people have a stroke, a heart attack or contract a disease that seriously affects the quality of their life before they get there?
There's a song called "Mass Destruction" by a band called Faithless, that's a dance number with a driving beat, not a melodic song, as is my usual preference and style. There's a line in the song that says "Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction".
As coaches we talk a lot about, and encourage "Being" because many people are already rushing around frantically doing. "We are human beings" we say, "not human doings."
However, there's another side of this, and that is that 'Being' on its own is wonderful if you want to live the life of a hermit, but if you want to live the life of your dreams, invariably some action is required in addition to the Being.
And if you want the life of your dreams, can you really afford to wait until you have enough money, enough qualifications, enough .....?
Who knows what tomorrow will hold?
There literally is no time like the present.
What are you waiting for?
conversed. I am nearing the end of my CTI coach certification programme, have moved house and been on holiday to Italy - fabulous by the way, if you've never been and are considering it. If you already know the country, then I'm preaching to the converted.
I have been very aware recently of the fragility of life. One example of this was a neighbour in our old street passed away very suddenly without any warning. It was a shock to everyone who lived in the street, particularly as everyone I spoke to believed that she always had more life in her than anyone else in the street.
